Falling Into a Good Life (Literary Scholar), Laurel Richardson. Paper Stars Press (ISBN: 9781737862451) 2026.
Summary: Laurel Richardson miraculously recovered from a serious fall leading to a reinventing of her life in a new place.
One night, while ill with COVID, Laurel Richardson attempted to walk down her steps when she suffered COVID paralysis and fell down thirteen steps. She suffered a broken neck, back, arm, ribs, eye socket. She had a severe concussion. Her aide, Fatu called for help the next afternoon when Laurel didn’t answer her phone. The EMTs brought her to Ohio State’s Trauma Center. Her very life was on the line.
Family gathered around her. Even Suzanne, her son Josh’s ex-wife was there, massaging her feet. She would stay with Laurel and do this often. Suzanne asks Laurel to stay with them until her birthday, six weeks off. Laurel promises. She writes, “My sons know I have never ever broken a promise to them.” And she promises.
In this memoir, Laurel describes how she not only survived to celebrate her 87th birthday in 2023 but went through a hard fought but miraculous recovery with the support of family and friends and the skilled and compassionate help of medical and rehab specialists at Ohio State’s Brain and Spine Hospital. And as amazing as this was, considering many don’t survive such injuries or are seriously disabled, she went on to transition into a new and rich life situation, reinventing her life as she did so.
The first several chapters are prefaced with “Here’s what happened. Or didn’t. I don’t know.” It captures the experience of someone heavily medicated who finds herself in a strange place with all these injuries. She hallucinates. Her son Josh challenges her pain management and they reduce her medication to Tylenol. She slowly recovers. takes her first steps. Then she transitions to a re-hab facility, followed by an assisted living facility. As she feels better, she enters into the community. She also thinks about survival, the meaning of her life, and talks with a trusted rabbi about prayer. Friends visit including her writing group. Then the time comes when she can go home.
However, this comes with mixed feelings. Her family sets up the house for her to live on the first floor while grandson Akiva lives upstairs and helps her out. But she misses the people at her assisted living community. She sets up a group with friend to read Jewish texts on Sabbath. She’s doing well. Akiva is in a deepening relationship. But she doesn’t want to live alone in her home.
Through a friend, she learns of The Hartford, an over-55 community. She likes what she sees, and so do her family and friends. But the decision involves downsizing. She describes working with downsizing consultants who help with the process and manage the move–tremendously exhausting but they worked through the house determining what to keep, sell, give to family.
The last part of the memoir describes life in the new community. An emeritus sociology professor, Richardson recognizes all the things the facility does to make this a welcoming community–places for residents to talk any time of the day, groups, celebrations. She describes celebrating New Years Eve for the first time in twelve years. She walks us through her days and the changing seasons. The memoir concludes with a show of Richardson’s quilts in the entrance foyer, an expression of her life and a gift to her new-found community.
She sums up her fall and the new life it led to like this:
“The fall awakened my life source, kindled a resilience I didn’t know I had, and led me to accept both my gifts and my shadow side–I have found the right place for the embodied me to be me.”
Richardson narrates a journey of not only physical rehabilitation but also of spiritual transformation. Her narrative offers vivid descriptions of the healing process, transitioning out of and downsizing from a home, and the dynamics of a community that honors the uniqueness of seniors. Her narrative offers an example of the powerful influence of a loving circle of family and friends. and the gift of sensitive spiritual advisors, both Jewish and Christian in her case.
As a younger senior, I find myself wondering how I will navigate the final part of my life’s journey. The memoir was a tremendous encouragement that growth is possible through all the transitions, even health challenges. A good life needn’t be simply what I had in the past. Richardson describes a life of growing generosity, deepening community, and richer spirituality on the other side of her fall. Her story is one of hope and meaning from which we all may learn.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for review.
Summary: A methodology for New Testament ethics centered on community, the cross, and the new creation.
When I was in seminary in the 1980’s, I took a course on ethics that used a text titled Can Ethics Be Christian? by James M. Gustafson. While making the useful point that one did not need to be Christian to be ethical, it also cast doubt on whether there was such a thing as a Christian ethic and how one might arrive at that. We had no books from Richard B. Hays back then. Later, around the time of the publication of The Moral Vision of the New Testament in 1996, I acquired a copy. And perhaps because of its daunting size, it remained on a stack of unread books.
Recently, Eerdmans sent me a copy of New Testament Ethics for review, re-visiting Hays book thirty years later. I thought before I read that book, I ought read this one. I will be reviewing the new book in the near future.
What Hays does in this book is establish a methodology of moving from the texts of the New Testament to applications to contemporary issues. He follows a four step process. He begins with describing the moral witness of the New Testament texts. Then, he synthesizes that material into three focal images he argues are foundational to New Testament ethics. From here, he engages the hermeneutical or interpretive task, drawing upon text as the “norming norm” but also weighing church tradition, reason, and experience. Finally, he addresses the pragmatic task of using this framework to address five “test cases” which vary in terms of the amount of textual material available. I’ll elaborate each step in greater detail:
Part One: The Descriptive Task
Hays begins with Paul. He notes the theological grounding of Paul in the eschatology of new creation, the centrality of the cross as the basis of Christian faithfulness, and the life of the redeemed community as Christ’s body. Hays separately deals with the deutero-Pauline letters, focus on the cosmic ecclesiology of Ephesians and the idea of the household of God in 1 Timothy. Then Hays turns to the synoptic gospels, noting a distinctive ethical focus for each: Mark on taking up the cross, Matthew on training for the kingdom, and Luke on liberation through the Spirit’s power. John’s gospel and epistles focus on love for each other. Finally Revelation focuses on resisting the Beast in light of the victory of the lamb and the new creation.
It should be noted that Hays does not address the contribution of Hebrews and the non-Johannine general epistles. He also offers his own assessment of “historical Jesus research” notably asserting that the burden of proof lies with those claiming inauthenticity. He argues against dismissing John’s gospel, particularly in light of its claim to be eyewitness testimony. And he argues for the resurrection as a historical event–not a popular position in 1996.
Part Two: The Synthetic Task
Hays begins by establishing three procedural guidelines. First, any synthesis must confront the full range of canonical witnesses. Then, allow tensions to stand. Finally, give attention to literary genre. With these in mind, Hays argues for three focal images arising from his descriptive work.
The first of these is community. “The church is a countercultural community of discipleship, and this community is the primary addressee of God’s imperatives.” When asking questions of God’s will, we ought ask, not “what should I do” but “what shoud we do?”
The second is the cross. “Jesus death on the cross is the paradigm for faithfulness to God in this world.” Walking in the way of the cross is not just for some individuals but for the whole community.
And lastly, the third is new creation. “The church embodies the power of the resurrection in the midst of a not-yet-redeemed world.
Hays addresses why he does not include love as a focal image. He argues that the full range of canonical material does not incorporate it. Love can also mean a variety of things. Finally, for Hays, love is subsumed in the theme of the cross.
Part Three: The Hermeneutical Task
Hays lays the groundwork for his proposals by asking how ethicists use scripture. In ethical discussion, ethicists will appeal to rules, principles, paradigms, and symbolic worlds, each of which is in scripture. He also notes the role tradition, reason, and experience play in interpretation. He then surveys five models of New Testament ethicists and how they apply (or fail to apply) these criteria: Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, and Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza.
Hays then offers ten guidelines that build on his work to this point:
Serious exegesis is a basic requirement. Texts used in ethical arguments should be understood as fully as possible in their historical and literary context.
New Testament texts must be read with careful attention to their Old Testament subtexts.
We must seek to listen to the full range of canonical witnesses.
Substantive tensions within the canon should be openly acknowledged.
Our synthetic reading of the New Testament canon must be kept in balance by the sustained use of three focal images: community, cross, and new creation.
New Testament texts must be granted authority (or not) in the mode in which they speak (i.e., rule, principle, paradigm, symbolic world).
All four modes are valid and necessary.
We should not override the witness of the New Testament in one mode by appealing to another mode.
The New Testament is fundamentally the story of God’s redemptive action; thus, the paradigmatic mode has theological primacy, and narrative texts are fundamental resources for normative ethics.
Extra-biblical sources (i.e. tradition, reason and experience) stand in a hermeneutical relation to the New Testament; they are not independent, counterbalancing sources of authority.
It is impossible to distinguish “timeless truth” from “culturally conditioned elements” in the New Testament.
The use of the New Testament in normative ethics requires an integrative act of the imagination; thus, whenever we appeal to the authority of the New Testament, we are necessarily engaged in metaphor-making.
Right reading of the New Testament occurs only where the Word is embodied.
Part Four: The Pragmatic Task
In this last part of the book, Hays offers five “test cases” of reaching ethical conclusions on the basis of the methodology he has outlined. He states:
“As I take a stand on these five issues, some of which are bitterly controversial, it is impoirtant to emphasize that I do not presume to speak ex cathedra. Rather, I offer a series of discernments to the church in prayerful humility.”
The five issues he addresses are violence, divorce, homosexuality, anti-Judaism, and abortion. He notes at the outset the different ways the New Testament speaks to each. In the case of violence, the witness is both pervasive and univocal against it. On divorce, the passages share a common perspective, but differing casuistic developments that lead to diverse applications. The texts on homosexuality are univocal but few and not central to the gospel story. However, with anti-Judaism, the textual evidence is in tension, and the interpreter has to prioritize what will be the controlling texts. Finally, the New Testament does not directly address abortion.
While peoples discuss Hays on homosexuality the most (particularly in light of his changing views in a book he co-authored with his son Chris shortly before his death), the most challenging material in many ways is that on violence. He argues for pacifism as the only biblically defensible ethic, arguing Jesus epitomizes it in his own paradigmatic death.
On homosexuality, while arguing against same-sex intimacy for believers, he states that “insofar as the church fails to teach clearly about heterosexuality outside of marriage, its disapproval of homosexual coupling will appear arbitrary and biased.” He argues for inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church. I found the position both forthright and gracious and want to see how he has changed his view in The Widening of God’s Mercy. While not having read the book yet, I sense from other reviews that Hays has not changed his reading of the passages. Rather, he has changed in how he reads them in the light of the whole of scripture and in light of experience.
One striking observation is how Hays approaches abortion through the lens of community. He observes how often the church puts the burden of decision and responsibility on young women. Rather, what would happen if the community shared the burden and responsibility of raising a child?
Conclusion and Appraisal
In his conclusion Hays briefly but inadequately discusses the sharing of possessions in the church. I wish this had been one of the test cases, as it is especially an important issue among wealthy Western churches. I also wonder about his conclusions about love as a focal image. A stronger case could be made for this on a canonical basis.
Overall, I appreciated his careful elaboration of a methodology for arriving at ethical judgments on the basis of the New Testament. His three focal images offer a substantive foundation. The test cases model thorough application coupled with humility. While this work is the subject of much critique, that fact argues for its significance. Hays offers a thoroughgoing methodology that takes scripture seriously as the “norming norm.” At the same time, he also recognizes the tensions in that material and avoids reductive judgments. No wonder this book continues to be the subject of scholarly discussion thirty years later.
The Way of Dante (Hansen Lectureship Series), Richard Hughes Gibson, afterword by Nicole Mazzarella. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514013380) 2025.
Summary: Lectures exploring how C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams read Dante’s “Divine Comedy.”
This book is not a work of literary criticism of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. At least not directly. Rather, it is a study of how three literary friends interacted over their mutual love for Dante. In this book, Richard Hughes Gibson retraces the conversations, correspondence, and scholarship of C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams about Dante. And that fits the purpose of the Hansen Lectureship Series of the Marion E. Wade Center, at which these lectures were first given. The Center houses a collection of the papers of these three authors as well as those of J.R.R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, and Owen Barfield. Each year, the Hansen Lectureship features scholars highlighting some aspect of the thought and work of these writers.
Hughes introduces this study by describing what he found in his study of the papers. What he found was “a cohort of Dante readers whose invocation of Dante–public and private, conspicuous and covert–comprise a network of allusions, quotations, and citations” (p. xxiv, italics in the original). Each picked up on different things–Sayers his narrative and humor, Lewis, his cosmology and the language he used to describe it, and Williams, the portrayal of romantic love and Dante’s use of allegory.
Hughes then gives a prehistory of each author’s encounter with Dante. This is followed by a brief summary of the genesis of how the three came together around their shared love of Dante. It can be summarized in the six subtitles of the chapter:
Williams reads Lewis (or the Allegory of Love affair)
Lewis reads Williams and recommends his book (The Figure of Beatrice)
Sayers reads Williams (and then Dante)
Williams reads Sayers (reading and rendering Dante)
Lewis reads Sayers’ Dante criticism and translation
Sayers reads Lewis (and writes him and Williams into her translation)
Besides the fact that these people did a lot of reading, it was particularly illuminating to learn of the role Williams played in encouraging Sayers to read Dante, and then his (and Lewis’s) warm response to her critical essays and translation of Inferno. He even agreed to write an Introduction to her work. However, Williams died in 1944, unable to fulfill that commitment. Hughes then follows their interactions through the three parts of The Divine Comedy.
Firstly, with Hell, we see the perception of all three that this is more than political commentary. Rather, it is a serious reflection on evil in all its forms. Secondly, Hughes focuses on how all three saw in Purgatory an ascent of increasing love. Finally, in Paradiso, we see the three wrestle with the nature of glory in the encounter with Beatrice. Hughes spends two chapters on this in “The Problem of Glory” and “The Patterns of Glory.” In between the chapters on Hell and Purgatory, Hughes inserts a lengthy chapter on allegory. In this case, the three understood allegory and symbol in different ways and Hughes teases out the nuances of difference between them.
The work left me regretting that I never got beyond Inferno in my reading of Dante. It also underscored what a rich experience might be found in reading (and re-reading) Dante with “a cohort of readers.” However, even if we are unable to do so, we are able to listen in on the discussions of these three Dante readers. Hughes work of mining their papers reveals another facet of our indebtedness to these three beyond the considerable gift of their published works. They also shined a spotlight on one of the greatest works of literature and its abiding significance.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
I finished and reviewed Theo of Golden this week and I understand what makes this such an exceptional book. It is more than just a “feel good” novel. Rather, it is a novel that quietly invites us to explore whether it is possible to live in our heartless and heartbreaking time without becoming self-protective or cynical. Theo opens himself to others to notice and name the exemplary qualities in their lives. He is genuinely kind, self-effacing, and generous. He knows deep sadness, yet lives joyfully and in the hope of heaven.
Literature often explores the darkness of the human heart. And this is not absent in Allen Levi’s book. But most writers find it easier to write about us at our worst than the possibilities of a different kind of life. That’s what Levi does. Not only that, he challenges us to ask whether our current fraught cultural story is the only one in which to live.
The Bruderhof use a motto or tagline of “another life is possible.” That’s what Levi show us. Or rather, he invites us to find ourselves in a different story. It’s rare that books do this in such a powerful way in my experience. I think it is what makes the Lord of the Rings compelling for so many of us. We not merely want to go to Middle Earth, but to bring something of its goodness here.
For me, the biblical story is one of those compelling stories of a God who wants to display his glory and love through his people, as wayward as they are. He even enters the story as one of us, exchanges his goodness for our evil, and through resurrection makes new life and a renewed creation possible. I’ve spent my life living in and into that story. Sadly, many who call themselves God’s people choose to live in our fraught cultural story, instead.
We need such stories, I believe. What stories have been compelling to you in their goodness?
Five Articles Worth Reading
Walking into my bookstore can be overwhelming. Sure, I like to browse for those serendipitous finds. But sometimes it helps to have an idea of what others think worthwhile of the many new books. published. And that’s what The New York Times has done in “The Best Books of the Year (So Far).” I like it because it is not overwhelming.
About ten years ago Amitav Ghosh argued that climate change required a new kind of novel. In “The Crisis That Novelists Can’t Handle,” Robert Rubsam reviews Ghosh’s Ghost Eye and assesses whether Ghosh lived up to his own critique.
Using Percival Everett’s James, Geoffrey Mak explores in “Misreading the Past to Chart the Future” the genre of “remake literature” and what is involved in literary remakes.
Lastly, birthright citizenship has been much in the news in recent years, particularly with the Supreme Court’s decision upholding it. Richard A. Greenwald, in “Birthright and Belonging,” digs deeper into the political economy that has led to challenges to the traditional American creed.
Quote of the Week
Emma Lazarus was born on July 22, 1849. Her poem “The New Colossus” was written in 1887 to raise money for the Statue of Liberty and is inscribed on its pedestal. I thought it worthy as an example of our American creed to reproduce it here in full:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Miscellaneous Musings
Believe it or not, my mail has include a couple of Advent books already. Advent in July! I will be featuring them on my social media and reviewing them well before Advent. I appreciate that lead time from publishers.
In writing this post I discovered that The New York Times has joined The Atlantic in allowing subscribers to share unlimited articles from behind their paywall. Previously they allowed ten a month. I’ve made the case that this is both a great benefit to subscribers and very cheap advertising for their product. I hope you will enjoy the articles as well as subscribe if you like them and as finances permit.
I don’t review many books for middle school/high school readers but I’ve been enjoying Don Everts Oscar and the Mystery of the Glowing Orbs which talks about the challenges of moving to a new city during school as well as dealing with a disability.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Richard Hughes Gibson, The Way of Dante
Tuesday: Richard B. Hayes, The Moral Vision of the New Testament
Wednesday: Laurel Richardson, Falling Into a Good Life
Thursday: John Green, Everything is Tuberculosis
Friday: Ellis Peters, A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for July 19-25.
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.
Persuasion, Jane Austen. Penguin Classics (ISBN: 9780141439686) 2003, first published 1817.
Summary: Will Anne Elliot retrieve the missed opportunity of a broken engagement with Captain Wentworth eight years later?
The plotline of this story was set up in its first pages. Anne Elliot, youngest daughter of Baronet Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall becomes engaged to an ambitious young naval officer, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But those around her do not consider him worthy of a Baronet’s daughter by either measures of class or wealth, of which he has little. Although her father and oldest sister Elizabeth disapprove, Lady Russell is most persuasive. She is a distant relative who has become Anne’s closest confidant since the death of her mother. Because of her disapproval, Anne breaks off the engagement, against the inclinations of her heart.
Eight years pass. In the intervening period, Sir Walter, with no Lady Elliot to check him overspends his means. To pay off debts and reduce expenses, the family decides to rent Kellynch Hall and move to Bath. Bath offers a social circle enticing to both Lord Elliot and Elizabeth. Anne prefers her old neighborhood but has no choice. Then she learns that the new tenants are Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia. Sophia is Captain Wentworth’s sister!
Anne is able to stay nearby with her sister Mary’s family which include her husband Charles and sisters Henrietta and Louisa. Then Captain Wentworth returns for a visit with her sister. In the intervening years, he has made a fortune and is ready to marry and settle down. He’s formally courteous, and in some instances seems attentive. But Anne, the girl in her full bloom of beauty at nineteen is somewhat faded and worn at twenty-seven. And Wentworth seems attracted to Louisa, who returns his interest.
During a visit to the seaside resort of Lyme Regis, Louisa suffers severe injuries while “daring” the Captain to catch her. Anne offers to stay but both Mary and the Captain stay instead, although Anne would have been the better nurse. Anne rejoins her family in Bath, and expects to hear both news of Louisa’s recovery and her engagement to Wentworth.
Meanwhile an Elliot cousin, heir to Kellynch Hall reconciles with Sir Walter after an estrangement of many years. He sets his sights on Anne, who does not trust him, despite the efforts of other family members to persuade her this is a good match. Then startling news come. Louisa is engaged, but to another naval officer. And Wentworth is in Bath, but remains aloof, seeing Elliot’s attentions.
I found myself thinking throughout this novel that if Anne and Wentworth could have fifteen minutes alone, they could sort things out! But then what would happen to the romantic and dramatic tension?
There is the great irony in Sir Walter’s social pretensions and the reality of his straitened circumstances, requiring him to rent Kellynch Hall to (ugh!) a naval officer, and brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth.
Finally, there are a number of “persuasions” in the story–of Lady Russell, of Cousin Elliot with Sir Walter, of Mrs. Clay, who has insinuated herself into the family circle, and of the family with Cousin Elliot. All of these go against the wisdom of the heart and we hope that the Anne of twenty-seven will be wiser than the girl of nineteen.
This was Austen’s last novel, published posthumously. I like the process of maturing in Anne but thought other characters like Elizabeth or even Lady Russell lacked substance. The interest of Anne and Wentworth seemed obvious enough to this reader that the plotting just drew out the obvious while seeming to leave things up in the air. I didn’t think it Austen at her best.
Theo of Golden, Allen Levi. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781668236512) 2025.
Summary: An old man moves to Golden, sees portraits in a coffee shop and in powerful personal encounters gives them to their owners.
I think I’m a latecomer to the Theo of Golden party. For months everyone who has read this book, including friends with discriminating book judgment, have raved about this book. Truthfully, I feared buying the book and being disappointed. Instead, I was won over from his first portrait bestowal to Minnette. For those who haven’t yet read, the story in brief is this:
An old man, Theo moves from New York City to the southern town of Golden to look after his properties. On visiting the local coffee shop, he notices the pencil-drawn portraits of local residents. He conceives the plan to give them to their proper owners. He purchases them, works with Mrs. Gidley, the administrator for James Ponder, whose vacant apartment he has rented, to contact each with a personal note. In it he invites them to meet him at a particular bench by a fountain known as the Fedder..
Along the way, he becomes deeper friends with some of the residents. James Ponder becomes not only advisor but friend and confidant. Others include Tony, a Vietnam vet bookstore owner, a little girl, Lamisha, with extensive injuries from a car crash, an eccentric, homeless cyclist, Ellen and a gifted young cellist, Simone. Then there is his deepening friendship with the artist of the portraits, Asher Glissen.
I won’t go further than that in the plot except to note we know little of Theo’s background except that he grew up in Portugal, lost a daughter, and obviously is a man of great means. What we do learn, and what makes this book so compelling is the humble and beautiful character of Theo.
What most seems to stand out is how fully present he is to each person he meets. Instead of talking about himself, he listens to and draws out stories, making people feel safe with him. Theo even wins the trust of Ellen, the eccentric homeless woman, with whom he eventually goes on a bike adventure, something no one has ever done. He notices and names. He studies each portrait and then speaks of what he sees in that person from what they’ve said and what he sees. Then he gently invites them to live into what he has named.
He loved beauty and joy. Whether it was evening reveries by the Oxbow River, delight in a street musician, or enjoyment of a rare bottle of port with his bookstore friend on that man’s birthday, he had a great capacity to take joy in beauty. We learn that giving away portraits in Golden has been the happiest time of his life.
Yet he was a man who knew deep sadness in a romance broken off, and the death of his daughter. One of the most profound passages, in which he names a gift of the artist, Asher Glissen is about sadness. He has just observed that he sees sadness in every portrait of Glissen’s.
“It is a very high compliment, young man. A very high compliment indeed. Perhaps I am mistaken but, at some point, if we are wise, we must all confront our sadness, our brokenness, our disappointment. I am quite certain that your portraits help some people in a very tender and courteous way, to ask themselves, maybe for the first time, ‘Who is that person? What do I know to be true, really true, about that face?…Asher, we are masters at masking our sadness, but deep down inside, if we are honest, we know that there is an unsatisfied longing deep inside all of us. Your portraits invite people to be alone and quiet and truthful with themselves, to admit the longing and to discover the goodness in their sadness. Maybe?”
Asher is also one who notices and names through his portraits.
Finally, Theo is a man of deep faith. While Tony, the bookstore owner scoffs at the idea, Theo quietly hopes in heaven. This vision of heaven is evident in the Christmas gifts he gives. He invites Simone, the cellist, to play for the angels. He calls the little girl, Lamisha, a daughter of the King. And he writes to Asher,
“It is an imponderable thought that the Giver of Faces, the face of heaven itself, the face for which every heart yearns, became a wee babe, misty-eyed and helpless, looking Himself for the tender face of his mother on the night of the angels.”
I understand why this book has touched the hearts of many. We are confronted with heartlessness in our media every day. Levi’s book speaks to a yearning in us that believes “another life is possible” as my friends in the Bruderhof describe it. Theo embodies that life. His presence paints a picture of the Christ-transformed life. He incarnates the deep humility, gentleness, generosity, playfulness, and compassion of the Lord of heaven. And quietly, Theo of Golden invites us into that same kind of life.
Words that Shape Us, Ken Waters, foreword by John Ferré. Integratio Press (ISBN: 9781959685296) 2025.
Summary: A comparative analysis of four evangelical periodicals coverage of American politics and faith from 2016 to 2024.
One of the least controversial things that may be said of our current president is that he has dominated the American political scene from 2016 to the present. Surprisingly, despite questions of character and ethics, he has enjoyed broad support among whites who identify as evangelical Christians. At the same time, there is a dissenting minority, often characterized as an evangelical elite, in terms of education, who hold differing political views. A number of commentators have sought to parse the current landscape of evangelicalism. In this book, Ken Waters, a emeritus professor of journalism at Pepperdine University approaches this cultural analysis through the lens of four of the leading evangelical publications of this time period. Specifically, he compares their coverage and editorial slant on key political events during this period.
In his Introduction, he identifies three questions he will explore. Firstly, how does the divide in voting advice in the evangelical press in 2016 carry through in the voting behavior of evangelicals then and subsequently? Secondly, what can we learn about the evangelical movement by a broader look at how they discuss how Christians ought live in the modern. Thirdly, what might these findings foreshadow for the future of the evangelical movement? In particular, do the divergences reflected in these publications reflect a fraying or disintegrating movement?
Then Waters introduces each of the publications, offering a brief historical sketch. In alphabetical order, he begins with The Christian Post, a free, online-only publication featuring daily news coverage, launched by Korean pastor, David Jang in 2006. Richard Land signed on as executive editor. Second is Christianity Today, launched out of the vision of Billy Graham in 1956 as a counterpoint to The Christian Century. It sought to articulate thoughtful evangelical faith and positions on moral issues including abortion and homosexuality.
Sojourners (originally The Post-American) was formed in 1971 by disaffected evangelical seminary students as a peace and justice-oriented magazine, a distinctive that has only expanded in recent years. Led by founder Jim Wallis, it is a mouthpiece of a progressive evangelicalism. Finally. World was founded in 1986 by Joel Belz with a self-described editorial philosophy of “biblical journalism.” It underwent a profound shift in 2021 when Albert Mohler became Opinion editor, accepting only conservative commentary. Many of the journalists, including Marvin Olasky left the publication.
In the remaining chapters, Waters analyzes each periodical’s coverage and editorial approach to major political issues. He begins with the 2016 election and the approach to each of the candidates. The Christian Post included opinions supporting each candidate while the publication did not want to give a vote to either. They reluctantly deemed Trump the lesser of two evils. Christianity Today likewise criticized both candidates, Clinton on positions and Trump on moral grounds and did not endorse a candidate. Sojourners rarely mentioned Clinton, apart from her lifelong social justice Methodist background. However, it extensively criticized candidate Trump. While not endorsing either, it made clear Trump was anathema. World was hard-hitting both in allegations of corruption in Clinton’s background while calling on Trump to step aside for another candidate. It endorsed neither candidate while acknowledging that most readers would support Trump. Evangelicals followed this pattern in the next three presidential elections.
Succeeding chapters used the same approach to analyze the coverage of immigration, nationalism, George Floyd and racism, COVID, the 2020 election and Joe Biden, the end of Roe, LGBTQ+ questions, and the 2024 election. The Christian Post and World, especially after 2021, trended more conservative while Christianity Today and Sojourners trended more progressive. What was most striking to Waters was that the Christian perspective presented in all of the publications tended to differ markedly from opinion polls measuring evangelical belief. In the case of the murder of George Floyd, Christianity Today determined its past reporting on race to be deficient and the publication took steps to address those deficiencies.
Most striking were Waters’ conclusions about the future of evangelicalism. He notes the possibilities for fragmentation, particularly along the lines of an educational divide. Demographics are rapidly altering both the makeup of evangelicalism and the media landscape. However, quoting Russell Moore, he believes the shakeup and “homelessness” of evangelicals is a precursor to renewal. And he concludes that the “words that shape us” will continue to be important in that renewal.
Waters offers us an outstanding work of both media and cultural analysis. He read hundreds of articles from the represented publications during this period. However, I question how influential these publications have been in forming an evangelical political philosophy, except among more educated evangelicals. Even here, did they form it or just mirror it? Are other media outlets on the left and right far more “shaping”? I think that many of evangelical conviction are turning from such outlets to others like Plough, Mere Orthodoxy, and Comment. None of these are mentioned here. I do think words are shaping. But, while important to the analysis of this work, I question whether the four publications studied here are the wineskins that will shape the hoped-for renewal. If the Lord is pleased to pour out new wine, new wineskins will be needed.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
The Earth Will Be Filled, (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology), Donnie Berry. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010778) 2025.
Summary: The glory of God in scripture, that God reveals his glory to his people and through them, to fill the earth.
The glory of God is the bedrock of scripture. So maintains Donnie Berry who finds the glory of God wherever he turns in scripture. But what do we mean by the glory of God? Berry studies the words used and proposes this definition;
“Glory refers to all the fullness of the triune God–the fullness of his wisdom, love, creativity, beauty, strength, compassion, justice, life, joy–all that makes him weighty and wonderful, made manifest for us to see, experience, respond to, and, perhaps most surprisingly, participate in” (p. 7).
Berry argues that this is a worthwhile study. God made and redeemed us for Himself and to long for and behold God’s glory is the bedrock of joy in our lives. So what is the witness of scripture to God’s glory? Like other volumes in this series, Berry will trace the theme of glory from Genesis to Revelation. In the process he will formulate a biblical theology of the glory of God.
The narrative begins with creation. God fills the earth with the glory shared with God’s triune self. Not only that but God crowns humans with the special glory of dominion, bringing God’s goodness to all creation. But as a result of disobedience, humans cease to glorify God and spread his glory to all creation. Instead, they spread destruction and death. But even then, God clothes them and spares Noah and his creatures.
But God does not give up on his plan to spread his glory through his people. Beginning with Abraham, he calls out a people through whom he will bless the earth. He reveals that glory through Israel in the exodus and at Sinai. When they rebel, Moses not only pleads for God to go with them but asks to see God’s glory. God cannot do this. It would kill Moses. But he makes all his goodness pass before him. Moses sees what is glorious about God. Then he discloses Israel’s purpose–they are God’s treasured possession and a kingdom of priests. Furthermore, God makes his glory dwell among them through giving them both Torah and tabernacle. Eventually, the temple will replace the tabernacle at the height of Solomon’s rule. God’s glory will descend upon it.
Yet Israel, like Adam will rebel. The nation will fall and the glory will depart from the temple. But God doesn’t give up. God is present and preserves them through exile. Then he promises that his glory will not only return to Zion but fill the earth. Key to this will be “the servant of the Lord.”
Then John tells us “the Word became flesh” and glory came down among us. Signs of that glory fill the first part of John’s gospel. Then the hour of his glory comes when he is lifted up on the cross to draw all people unto him. God raises him and and he imparts the Spirit of glory, empowering his disciples for mission.
Paul, in Romans, speaks of our hope of sharing in God’s glory as God restore all creation. This is hope for both Jew and Greek, for all who hear God’s “no condemnation.” God’s glory in Christ extends to this redeemed humanity, and through them to the groaning creation.
Finally, in Revelation, we witness the final victory of God’s glory, centering on the slain Lamb, who is worthy of all praise. Though him, God brings all earth under his rule. And in the new creation, his people share his glory and rule.
How then shall we respond? The invitation is to behold, and by beholding, God transforms us from one degree of glory to another. Whereas our enemy subjects us to slavery, our redeeming Lord both reveals and shares his glory with us.
I wish Berry could have discussed the Synoptic gospels and Acts, and the witness of Hebrews, which would have enriched this study. However, there are plenty of riches in this “story of glory.” In addition, Berry uses various iterations of a very clear diagram to show the unfolding story. I felt Berry wrote in such a way as to not merely inform but to invite us to behold God’s glory and be transformed. This is biblical theology at its best.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Moms on the Way (IVP Bible Study Experience), Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick. IVP Bible Studies (ISBN: 9781514014202) 2026
Summary: A seven week Bible study for groups with personal readings on following Jesus through the challenges of motherhood.
Being a mom can be challenging. Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick know this from their own experience as moms. Then they talked to seven hundred other moms to learn about the challenges they faced. In 2024, drawing on this research, they published their first group study book, Moms at the Well, to begin to address facing those challenges by finding nourishment in Christ and in community with other moms. But their research raised more issues than they could cover in just one book, so they’ve returned with a sequel.
In Moms on the Way, they address seven more topics through scripture-based discussions in groups coupled with five days of personal readings and study that amplify the group discussion. The topics are:
When we need a friend
When we feel ashamed
When we feel resentful
When we feel like we don’t have enough
When we’re caught up in the rat race
When God invites us to embrace vulnerability
When all we can taste is bitterness
Each week’s group discussions begin with text introductions and opening activities and a short video clip [QR code in guide to access]. They follow by Bible study with questions to engage and apply the text. Then they conclude with a breath prayer, a “Holy Spirit check-in” to listen for what the Spirit is saying, and a written leader benediction. The studies ideally take about 90 minutes but leaders can adapt them for shorter periods, like a lunch hour.
The five personal studies look at smaller segments of the passage or related passages combining biblical study, reflection questions, prayer prompts and invitations. The guide allows for plenty of room to write in responses.
While I’m not a mom, there are several things I like about this guide. Firstly, shaming is out! Moms struggle with this enough and the authors create a shame-free space where people can be honest about everything from how little of the guide they were able to read to struggles with loneliness, resentment, competition with other moms, and even bitterness. They even address shame and how God beckons us to break the cycle of shame with a cycle of spiritual transformation.
Secondly, Tara and Kathy are real! They share honestly and vulnerably about their own struggles, some continuing, and how they are leaning into their faith. For example, Kathy writes about her bitterness when diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in her twenties and Tara when God felt absent to her when she was grieving her father’s death.
Finally, women in narratives often don’t have names. In several narratives, the authors give them names that make contextual sense. The mother of the groom at the wedding feast at Cana is Yedida. The woman Elijah stays with at Zarephath becomes Zerah. Finally, the Shunamite whose son Elisha raises is becomes Shona. Such names foreground and make characters real, often women, who reside in the background of scripture.
While the guide can be studied individually, the authors believe the communal experience of honest sharing and mutual learning is immeasurably enriching. If you are part of a mom’s group looking for a study discussion guide that takes you deeply into scripture as well as into honest sharing and reflection, this is an outstanding resource.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
As a reader, one of my delights has always been in snow days, when blizzards and cold make staying inside and reading. In our brave new climate world, snow days are increasingly infrequent. But this week delivered the new climatological replacement: the Smoke Day. In our part of the United States, if Canada is having a wildfire season and the winds are out of the northwest, the smoke, smelling like burning plastic, fills our skies. Yesterday morning, our Air Quality Index reached over 400, the worst reading our city has ever recorded. Some cities to our north reached readings of over 700, hazardous for all mammals.
Now I don’t think this is a good thing. Firstly, it is just plain dangerous. Sunlight turns the smoke into deadly things like benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and ozone, some of which are carcinogenic and others which just make breathing difficult. In addition PM 2.5 particulates penetrate deep into our lungs. Then there is all that carbon dioxide, added to what we humans generate. We never used to have days like this. Changing climate conditions turn Canadian forests into tinderboxes. And many Canadians are dealing with far more dire conditions than we are.
The one consolation is that like the Snow Day, about all one can do is stay indoors (hopefully in an air-conditioned spot that filters and recycles the air) and enjoy a good book. But I manage to do that most days anyway. At least I have a good excuse to not do yard work! I would rather not have the excuse of Smoke Days. But I fear it is a new normal. Stay safe friends!
Five Articles Worth Reading
Everyone’s abuzz about Christopher Nolan’s new cinematic rendering of The Odyssey. In “We’ll Help You Find Your Next Great Book. (Spoiler: It’s the ‘Odyssey.’),” A.O. Scott suggests that no matter your taste in literature, there is something in The Odyssey for you. And he uses that to introduce us to several translations of Homer’s classic.
Batsheva Labowe-Stoll maintains the quest to develop artificial intelligence has often been religious in nature in “The Deep Spiritual History of AI.” For those familiar with Genesis, the efforts to develop AI have often seemed to me another Tower of Babel story.
Derek Thompson asks, “Why is the news media so interested in telling you how much the world sucks all the time? Why are so many of us obsessed with distraction and managing our attention? Why is it so hard to stop comparing ourselves to others? And why does everything in art and design seem the same these days?” In conversation with philosopher Agnes Callard, Thompson discovers one idea that links these questions, the “uni-context.” Read “A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory to Explain Why the World Feels So Weird” for the full interview.
Finally, I’ve often reflected on what an amazing intellectual Christian community the Inklings represented. Comment explores similar communities through history and around the world in “Seedbeds of Christian Humanism: A Gallery” The article links to articles devoted to 31 different communities.
Quote of the Week
This one was thought provoking. Is the search for truth a waking up from our dreams? So suggests Iris Murdoch, born July 15, 1919:
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”
Miscellaneous Musings
An example of the community the Inklings and Dorothy L. Sayers enjoyed is described in a new book, The Way of Dante by Richard Hughes Gibson. It’s a marvelous study of the interactions between C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Dorothy L. Sayers around a shared love of Dante. Not only did they challenge each other’s thinking but the encouragement of Williams and Lewis gave Sayers the courage to embark on a new translation of the Divine Comedy.
As seems usual with Jane Austen, I’m on tenterhooks to see if Anne Eliot and Captain Wentworth rekindle the romance Anne ended at the persuasion of Lady Russell, who judged the Captain unworthy of the family in Persuasion. Don’t tell me. I want to see if I’ve guessed it. This is number four of the Austen novels I’ve read this year.
He’s a MacArthur Fellow, has won numerous national awards, I love his writing, and he is from the city where i live. And now, Hanif Abdurraqib adds to all this the honor of being named the 2026 ABA Indie Bookstore Ambassador! Well done!
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick, Moms on the Way
Tuesday: Donnie Berry, The Earth Will Be Filled
Wednesday: Ken Waters, Words That Shape Us
Thursday: Allen Levi, Theo of Golden
Friday: Jane Austen, Persuasion
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for July 12-18.
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.
